Crytek news: CEO resigns a few days after new game launches

Cevat Yerli co-founder and President of Crytek at the Gamescom 2009Wikipedia/D-Kuru

Crytek, the famed developer responsible for the most notorious and technologically impressive video game "Crysis," is reshuffling its leadership cards, as the CEO of the company has stepped down following the early access status of their new game "Hunt: Showdown."

The CEO in question is Cevat Yerli, also the founder of the said development studio, left at quite a precarious time for the company, since "Hunt: Showdown" is set to be one of their biggest games of the decade and one that could possibly make the company regain its developer status in the gaming community after its problematic mid-decade financial status.

Yerli has also made a positive statement despite his resignation, stating that "With the company in a strong position, now is the ideal time to recognize the existing leadership's excellent achievements over these past two years and formally transition executive leadership to Avni and Faruk." The two who will be taking over the executive duties for the German company are Yerli's brothers and will serve as joint CEOs for Crytek.

Yerli will still continue helping the company he built by serving as its advisor in the role of "strategic shareholder," though it remains to be seen how his departure will affect "Hunt: Showdown" or any of Crytek's future titles.

It can be recalled that Crytek became immensely popular in the gaming community back in late 2007 when it released "Crysis," a first-person shooter (FPS) game that is advanced for its time and was both infamous and celebrated for having cutting graphics that no computer hardware could run properly during its time. Until now, the decade-old game's graphics arguably still maintained its shine throughout the years.

After its "Crysis" games trilogy, however, Crytek got into deep financial trouble, so much so that it wasn't even able to pay its employees and nearly went bankrupt. If it weren't for a secret investor that Yerli refuses to name, as well as the royalties for its proprietary graphics engine named CryEngine, Crytek wouldn't have been alive and well today. Regardless, the company seems to be doing well right now and has a smooth development going on for "Hunt: Showdown."